Firienholt, originally known as Eryn Fuir[1] was a small forest of oaks that stood on the borders of Rohan and Gondor, about and upon the slopes of the Amon Anwar (Halifirien).[2]

The Mering Stream arose in the cleft between the Halifirien and the rest of the Ered Nimrais. It then turned northwest and watered the densest stands of trees in the forest. The stream marked the precise border between the Eastfold, and the Gondorian land of Anórien and thus part of the woods belonged to either realm. The great West Road passed through a cutting in the wood to avoid the wet lands to the north. From the road there was also a path to the summit of the Halifirien maintained by the Beacon-wardens.[3]

The road that cut through the northern bounds of the wood had been built by the Exiles of Númenor soon after the founding of Arnor and Gondor.[4]

At the end of the War of the Last Alliance, Isildur took his nephew Meneldil and a company of trusted friends on a ride about the borders of Gondor. Returning from the northern boundary, Isildur came to the Eryn Fuir and had a path made to the summit of Amon Anwar, which was green and treeless. There they raised a mound for a casket to be the tomb and memorial of Elendil. This spot was chosen because it stood near to the center of the lands claimed by the South Kingdom.[5]

The older Sindarin name for the wood had been Eryn Fuir, "North Wood" (becoming obsolete with the coming of the Rohirrim).[1] Because of the unnatural silence that lay upon the land in the Common Speech the Firienholt acquired the name "the Whispering Wood".[3]